In and out of hospital rooms while visiting those who are patients, it is normal to find myself looking at the numbers on the machines connected to the person I’m there to see. I am looking at blood pressures, oxygen levels, and heart beats per minute. Why do I along with almost everyone else look at the machine numbers? They are vital signs. I don’t have the expertise concerning what each number reveals, but they tell the medical staff about respiration, issues of the heart, and what treatments are needed. The doctors will come in with their stethoscopes and listen to the heart and lungs. They know that certain sounds mean certain things. Why? Those are vital signs. Just as our physical bodies have vitals, so the spiritual life of a believer has vital signs. These vital signs indicate spiritual life just as good blood pressure is wonderful and good oxygen is a blessing. What are some of these vital signs that a person is truly born again.
1. Loving other Christians: I John 4:20 speaks forcefully to us. “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar…” No soft peddling in that statement. Loving God’s people is a trait in the life of a genuine salvation experience. If you meet people who say things like, “I don’t do church,” that is a great indication they’ve been deceived about being saved.
2. Sharing the Gospel: Acts 1:8, “But ye shall be witnesses…” Have you ever had something so wonderful happen to you that you just could not keep it a secret? I have had blessings happen in my life by the hundreds, if not thousands, but all pale in comparison to the day Jesus came into my life. From that day, sharing Christ has been a part of my life and in truth it is a part of every genuine believer. If Jesus is never on your lips, He likely is not in your heart.
3. Desire for a New Life: II Corinthians 5:17. People who are alive spiritually have had a changed life. “Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.” The Holy Spirit has moved inside us giving us constant instruction and admonition. They now have a desire to love good and hate evil even though the battle with our sin nature is often great.
4. A Hunger for God’s Word: II Corinthians 2:12-25 is a wonderful passage concerning the spiritual appetite a genuine believer has. The way we crave food physically has a direct parallel to spiritual food. There is no greater spiritual food than the Word of God. I have heard stories of preachers who lived by this principle. “No Bible, no breakfast.” When they would rise in the morning the first thing was to spend time in “The Book”. BTW, there is no other book like “The Book.” Then after a little reading it was time for their bacon and eggs.
5. An Enlightened Conscience: They have a new awareness of right and wrong. A couple of proof texts for this vital sign is I John 4:13 and John 16:8. Between the sweet Holy Spirit inside us and the Word of God washing us regularly, we see things much more clearly and are much more sensitive in our understandings and discernments. If nothing is happening on the inside it could be the claimed born again experience is false.
6. Rejoice with your New Problems: Christians are not immune to trouble. Prosperity preachers often lie. One of their biggest is telling listeners, “You come down this aisle, get things right with God, and your problems will disappear.” Yes, if you come to Christ, those old sins are gone, but the tax bill from Uncle Sam still comes in the mail. You have the Lord whispering to you to place your burdens on Him. I Peter 4:12 lets us know problems are not strange things, they are normal. What do we do? We rejoice. We give thanks that the Lord is growing us through this trial.
These six vital signs should be in your life. If they are not, let me beg you to do a hard target search of your soul’s salvation. There is never a week that passes when I don’t have the horrible thought that many of the members of Corinth Baptist Church are simply not saved. They have heard people say the sinner’s prayer and perhaps have even said the same words but yet, they have no vital signs. Church is a take it or leave proposition, telling someone about Jesus never happens, the Bible is never cracked open, there is never a desire to love right and hate evil, they make unwise decisions over and over again, and never rejoice when the trial of our faith knocks on our door. Without vital signs there’s no life. They are dead spiritually. These are certainly not all the vital signs, but they are a really good place to start.